The Jewel of Seven Stars eBook

of them prove to be what we expect, why, then we may
yet achieve a knowledge beyond what our age has ever
known—­beyond what is believed today possible
for the children of men. If indeed this resurrection
can be accomplished, how can we doubt the old knowledge,
the old magic, the old belief! And if this be
so, we must take it that the ‘Ka’ of this
great and learned Queen has won secrets of more than
mortal worth from her surroundings amongst the stars.
This woman in her life voluntarily went down living
to the grave, and came back again, as we learn from
the records in her tomb; she chose to die her mortal
death whilst young, so that at her resurrection in
another age, beyond a trance of countless magnitude,
she might emerge from her tomb in all the fulness and
splendour of her youth and power. Already we
have evidence that though her body slept in patience
through those many centuries, her intelligence never
passed away, that her resolution never flagged, that
her will remained supreme; and, most important of all,
that her memory was unimpaired. Oh, what possibilities
are there in the coming of such a being into our midst!
One whose history began before the concrete teaching
of our Bible; whose experiences were antecedent to
the formulation of the Gods of Greece; who can link
together the Old and the New, Earth and Heaven, and
yield to the known worlds of thought and physical
existence the mystery of the Unknown—­of
the Old World in its youth, and of Worlds beyond our
ken!”

He paused, almost overcome. Margaret had taken
his hand when he spoke of her being so dear to him,
and held it hard. As he spoke she continued
to hold it. But there came over her face that
change which I had so often seen of late; that mysterious
veiling of her own personality which gave me the subtle
sense of separation from her. In his impassioned
vehemence her father did not notice; but when he stopped
she seemed all at once to be herself again. In
her glorious eyes came the added brightness of unshed
tears; and with a gesture of passionate love and admiration,
she stooped and kissed her father’s hand.
Then, turning to me, she too spoke:

“Malcolm, you have spoken of the deaths that
came from the poor Queen; or rather that justly came
from meddling with her arrangements and thwarting
her purpose. Do you not think that, in putting
it as you have done, you have been unjust? Who
would not have done just as she did? Remember
she was fighting for her life! Ay, and for more
than her life! For life, and love, and all the
glorious possibilities of that dim future in the unknown
world of the North which had such enchanting hopes
for her! Do you not think that she, with all
the learning of her time, and with all the great and
resistless force of her mighty nature, had hopes of
spreading in a wider way the lofty aspirations of her
soul! That she hoped to bring to the conquering
of unknown worlds, and using to the advantage of her